Advisors Capital Management LLC Purchases 10,399 Shares of MetLife, Inc. $MET

Advisors Capital Management LLC raised its position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 193,486 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 10,399 shares during the quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $15,560,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Donoghue Forlines LLC increased its stake in MetLife by 1.6% in the second quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC now owns 18,667 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,501,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. Allianz SE increased its stake in shares of MetLife by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Allianz SE now owns 108,264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,707,000 after purchasing an additional 690 shares during the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MetLife by 9.9% during the 2nd quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,543 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $446,000 after buying an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions bought a new stake in shares of MetLife during the 2nd quarter worth $14,086,000. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its stake in MetLife by 8.3% in the second quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 64,728 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,205,000 after buying an additional 4,935 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MET has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on MetLife from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of MetLife in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut MetLife from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, September 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.00.

MetLife Price Performance

MET stock opened at $78.65 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $51.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.33, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $79.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $78.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. MetLife, Inc. has a 52-week low of $65.21 and a 52-week high of $89.05.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $12.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.64 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 19.88%. MetLife’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.95 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be given a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 4th. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.75%.

MetLife Profile

MetLife, Inc, a financial services company, provides insurance, annuities, employee benefits, and asset management services worldwide. It operates through six segments: Retirement and Income Solutions; Group Benefits; Asia; Latin America; Europe, the Middle East and Africa; and MetLife Holdings. The company offers life, dental, group short-and long-term disability, individual disability, pet insurance, accidental death and dismemberment, vision, and accident and health coverages, as well as prepaid legal plans; administrative services-only arrangements to employers; and general and separate account, and synthetic guaranteed interest contracts, as well as private floating rate funding agreements.